Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-01-08
Greek Ghost stories.


Mrs. Cross told us naught but stories
about ghosts and COLLINS; but these
stories, when told by woman of so
quaint an aspect. and who thoroughly be-
leved in them, were different from any
such stories | had ever heard, and more
over they were highly interesting as prov
ing the tenacity Of custom and myth
among these primitive folk. She told us
much about certain demons which the
people believe haunt the world from
Christmas to Epiphany; these they be-
lleve to have the form of huge men with
goats or asses feet, the descendants, that
is to say, of the hideous gOat-!ooted satyrs
o antiquity. During their visits TO earth
they subsist, like the Amazons OF old,
solely on snakes and lizard; they
dance at night, and enter houses
by the chimney, so that Mrs.
Cross, like good housewife, was
always careful to keep embers burning on
the hearth during these dangerous days,
or else the Kaikargari, as they call them,
would come IN and spoil all her tood by
their dirty tricks. At cockcrOw they dis
appear for the day, and dwell in noun
tain caves, Uut not Till Epiphany comes
is the world free from them. and then they
flee under ground altogether, taking be-
fore they go hack at the tree which SUD-
ports the world, and which one day they
will cut through. A popular idea, akin
10 putting salt on BIRDS tail, is that if
you can hit kilkargarossWith flaming
torch be will become man.
When once opened on the subject OF
demonology, Mrs. Cross lips were not
easily closed. We heard in one evening
enough about modern nereids, dragons,
and lami9 to last for whole nights OF
nursery tales at home If properly ex-
tended but one struck me as particularly
Illustrative OF Greek demon-dread as it
exists now.
There is wood in the mountains"
began Mrs. Cross, "far above the monas.
terry, and near where the hermit rather
PartheniOs has his cell, where demons
abound in countless numbers, and none
dare approach it at night. O0e day a
bold wood cul ter from Kardya determined
to go with his ass and pass the night
there, havi & cut down ali the wood he
wanted. When evening came on he mad
on the ground a circle, in this he drew
with his ak a lot OF crosses, and within
the crosses a row Of mystic letters, and
again another row of crosses inside these;
In the midst of this charmed circle the
wood cutter lay down to sleep, and at
midnight the demons came aud tired TO
get al him, but Ill VAN. AT cockcrOW
they all fed, and he let of home with his
wood, ali OF tremble from The awful
sights he mad SEEN"
Genuine belel in the supernatural is so
rare nowadays that 1t was real treat TO
hear our landiady's earnest discourse on
the subject, and no more advantageous
surroundings could be wished for than
those which We had. the room was dingy
ana dim with smoke from the embers end
from our tobacco. Mrs. Gross sat On a
low stool with one child between her
knees and others crOuching round, with
open terrified eyes. Her husband sat by
in silence, and crossed himself when his
wife related anything whlcn struck MIN
as particularly dreadful. The room,
moreover, was only lighted in the leeblest
manner by wick dipped into foot.
SNAPPED receptacle tor Oh, which was hung
TO a stick which could be moved from
one spot to another at will.